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The First Writing Challenge!

After watching the Double Fine Adventure documentary, I have been inspired somewhat. I’ve been inspired to write more often and to try and write about anything and everything. It seems to be the best way to access all of the ideas tucked away into the far reaches of my mind, and so far, it is working pretty well. Therefore I am setting myself the first Ordinary Decent Gamer Writing Challenge! You know it’s important because “Writing” and “Challenge” are both capitalized, and I hear you cry, “You’re crazy! You can’t do that to a word that normally wouldn’t have a capital letter…absolutely bonkers”, and I say, “You have a valid point, but because I am trying to artificially inflate the importance of this event, I need all the help I can get.” Thinking back to the genesis of the blog, almost two long years ago in the Summer of ’11, I was posting almost every day, and now I’m struggling to manage a weekly one. Blame other commitments, work, random events and occurrences (hurricanes, blizzards, wizards), but it boils down to setting aside time to just write, free from distractions. One of my weaknesses is starting a post, leaving it for a day, then coming back to it and losing my train of thought completely. That type is easy to pick out, as it has no real flow and lacks consistency or a backbone.

The best posts are a continuous stream from my consciousness onto the page, but it requires some commitment to sit down and write or type, whichever I feel like more. Any interruptions while I’m writing can knock things in the head, so I’m starting to understand why Tim Schafer locks himself in his office, free from distractions while he is writing. I’m never quite sure if paper or a keyboard suits me best either, as I can write a lot more on the computer, but I feel as though I am more free to express myself with pen and paper. The obvious middle ground is starting on paper and typing everything up, which allows me to edit my thoughts and tidy things up, but its more time consuming than using the computer from the start. The best inspiration of all is getting out and doing things.

How could you not be inspired at something of this scale!

Gamescom was a joy to write for, as there was never a shortage of things to do and talk about, and people to discuss ideas with. It was a big enough inspiration to get me to start the blog in the first place! Things have been more challenging recently, as I have been crushed by the 9-5, but I’m still busy doing interesting things. I spent over three hours working on a camera lens last night, only to have it fail again, but all was not lost. I also used the time to catch up on a years worth of the Double Fine Adventure documentary, which was very interesting. And going through my Humble Bundle purchases I just realised how few of the games I have played, not least Brutal Legend and Psychonauts, both Schafer’s games from the Double Fine bundle. In addition to those, he also released a number of games produced during the Amnesia Fortnight, where the teams working on Double Fine Adventure, or Broken Age, broke off and had two weeks to make their own game. I’m quite looking forward to giving them a try when I get some time. Onto the Writing Challenge:

Now that’s the face of inspiration! Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Tim Schafer

Writing Challenge!

I am going to write a post for each night of the week, on whatever comes into my head. They will vary in length, but should exceed 500 words and may well contain a game theme, and I may also try and resurrect previous attempts at regular features. Who knows, you might even see a REwind or Cabinet of Curiosities post, though I did recently get rid of a whole load of crap from my room. At the same time, I’m going to be working on my film ideas, which is one of my main reasons for instituting the challenge. Wish me luck! Any other bloggers reading, feel free to join me and make this week, 12-18th August 2013, blogging/writing week. It would make more sense to start it at the blog’s 2 year anniversary, but I’m feeling inspired now, so I’m going to stick to this. Writing about writing does count, I swear!